King’s Shropshire Light Infantry

Battalions of the Regular Army

1st Battalion
August 1914 : at Tipperary. Under command of 16th Brigade in 6th Division.
10 September 1914 : landed at St Nazaire.

2nd Battalion
August 1914 : in Secunderabad, India. Returned to England, landing at Plymouth in November 1914. Moved to Winchester and came under orders of 80th Brigade in 27th Division.
21 December 1914 : landed at Le Havre.
Moved with the Division to Salonika, arriving 4 December 1915.

3rd (Reserve) Battalion
August 1914 : in Shrewsbury. A depot/training unit, it moved on mobilisation to Pembroke Dock. Initially camped at Llanion Barracks but soon moved to Imble Lane Camp with detachments at Pennar Barracks, Golden Hill and Pembroke Green Camps. Had a period in Colinton Barracks in Edinburgh in November 1914 to March 1915 before returning to Pembroke. Moved in December 1917 to Crosshaven in Queenstown Harbour, Cork. Moved on to Fermoy in early 1918.

The standard badge of the KSLI as depicted on a CWGC headstone. Image from PaulHP’s collection at flickr, for which my thanks.

Battalions of the Territorial Force

1/4th Battalion
August 1914 : in Shrewsbury. Army Troops attached to Welsh Division. Moved on mobilisation to Sittingbourne.
29 October 1914 : sailed from Southampton for India, arriving at Bombay on 1 December.
10 February 1915 : arrived at Singapore, although a detachment was sent to the Andaman Islands. Rejoined as a battalion in Singapore on 13 April 1917.
30 May 1917 : arrived at Capetown. Sailed on 29 June for Southampton.
27 July 1917: landed at Le Havre.
18 August 1917 : attached to 190th Brigade in 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.
4 February 1918 : transferred to 56th Brigade in 19th (Western) Division.

2/4th Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in October 1914 as a second line unit. Moved to Cardiff.
Moved in July 1915 to Isle of Man. Moved to Bedford in November 1915, was at Lowestoft and Yarmouth in 1916. Moved to Aldeburgh: regimental history says it was there in December 1916 when converted to 50th Provisional Battalion ( a home service only unit).

3/4th Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in May 1915 and moved to Oswestry and then Tenby.
8 April 1916 (regimental history gives different date of 25 August): became 4th Reserve Bn.
Was at Swansea in 1917 and finally at Pembroke Dock as part of Milford Haven Garrison.

10th (Shropshire & Cheshire Yeomanry) Battalion
Formed at Cairo on 2 March 1917, from two dismounted Yeomanry regiments and came under command of 231st Brigade in 74th (Yeomanry) Division.
7 May 1918 : landed at Marseilles for service in France.

Battalions of the New Armies

5th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in August 1914 as part of K1 and came under orders of 42nd Brigade in 14th (Light) Division. Moved initially to Aldershot and then went on to Chiddingfold in March 1915, before briefly returning to Aldershot.
20 May 1915 : landed at Boulogne.
4 February 1918 : disbanded at Jussy. Troops dispersed to 1st, 1/4th, 6th and 7th Bns.

6th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under command of 60th Brigade in 20th (Light) Division. Moved to Aldershot and then on to Larkhill in April 1915.
22 July 1915 : landed at Boulogne.

7th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in September 1914 as part of K3 and came under command of 76th Brigade, 25th Division. Moved to Codford. Went to billets in Bournemouth in May 1915, moved to Romsey in May then next month to Aldershot.
28 September 1915 : landed at Boulogne.
15 October 1915 : Brigade moved to 3rd Division.
19 October 1915 : transferred to 8th Brigade in same Division.

8th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Shrewsbury in September 1914 as part of K3 and moved to Seaford, where it came under command of 66th Brigade in 22nd Division. Moved to billets in Eastbourne in December 1914. Moved back to March 1915 and on to Aldershot in May.
Landed in France on 5 September 1915 but sailed from Marseilles 28 October, landing at Salonika 6 November 1915.

9th (Reserve) Battalion
Formed in Pembroke Dock on 1 November 1914 for K4, under command of 104th Brigade of original 35th Division.
10 April 1915 : converted into a reserve battalion. Moved in June 1915 to Kinmel Park and went on in August to Prees Heath.
1 September 1916 : converted into 48th Training Reserve Battalion of 11th Reserve Brigade at Prees Heath.

Books

Dedication

This page is dedicated to my wife’s grandfather William Townsend and his brother Gabriel. From Little Birch near Hereford, they enlisted into the 5th (Service) Battalion. On 25 September 1915 Gabriel was killed in action and Will was wounded. He eventually returned to the battalion, being wounded a further three times before the war ended.

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